In a recording process onto an optical information recording medium (hereinafter referred to as a “medium”) as represented by CD-R, DVD-R, or the like, the compatibility between a medium to be recorded onto and a recording apparatus (hereinafter referred to as a “drive”) to be used for recording is dependent on the combination of them. As a cause for the dependence, both medium-side factors that affect an optimum recording condition due to difference in type of a recording material comprising a medium and/or manufacturing variation in deposited film properties and drive-side factors that also affect an optimum condition due to difference in type of an optical pickup device or a semiconductor laser comprising a drive and/or manufacturing variation in assemblies may be taken into account; however, the cause is actually due to a certain combination of these factors and therefore there exists an optimum recording condition for every combination of a medium and a drive.
A conventional method has thus been employed in such a way that a recording condition prepared for each type of medium is stored to a drive side in addition to storing to a medium side the ID information from which a type of the medium is identifiable to the drive side, and when actual recording is implemented, the ID information on the medium is read from the medium being loaded in the drive and a recording condition (hereinafter referred to as “write strategy”) associated with the ID information is used.
However, sometimes the conventional method cannot accept an unknown medium, which has not been examined, under a prepared recording condition although it can select to some extent a recording condition appropriate for a known medium, which has been examined. Also, sometimes the conventional method cannot accept even a known medium under a prepared recording condition in case of change in recording environment such as a recording rate, disturbance, or change with time.
A method contemplated to accommodate such an unknown medium is described in the following literatures:    Patent Document 1: Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2003-30837, and    Patent Document 2: Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2004-110995.
As described in paragraph [0020] of the Patent Document 1 as: “. . . a phase error relative to a channel clock is detected for every recording pattern. A recording compensation parameter adjustment part 12 optimizes an emission waveform rule based on the detection result obtained in a phase error detection part 11. . . ”, a method for detecting a phase error by comparing with a channel clock and correcting for the phase error is disclosed.
The paragraph [0024] of the document describes, “A test pattern is then recorded to determine the emission waveform rule. The relationship between a prepared emission waveform rule and a phase error amount is investigated by reproducing the region onto which the test pattern is recorded. In other words, a phase error amount for every combination of a length of one of various marks and a space length immediately before the mark is measured. A desired emission waveform rule is then determined by estimating the emission waveform rule under which the phase error becomes zero from the phase error amount measured. . . ”, that is, a method is disclosed, wherein a phase error amount is measured for every combination of a mark and a corresponding space and then the emission waveform rule under which the phase error becomes zero is estimated (see FIGS. 8 and 12).
Because the method described in the Patent Document 1 involves a correction to be implemented based on a phase error of a recorded pattern, it is effective to optimize a strategy.
In paragraph [0045] of the Patent Document 2, “. . . a top pulse corresponding to a 3T period and a non-multi-pulse corresponding to an 8T period are integrally (successively) generated . . . ”is described and furthermore “. . . a laser power for a write pulse is adjusted in two stages and when the ratio of a laser power (a pulse height value of the top pulse) Ph to a laser power (a pulse height value of the non-multi-pulse) Pm is optimum, an optimum power can be obtained . . . ”is described in paragraph [0046], that is, it is suggested that an optimization of the ratio Ph/Pm is effective.
However, because the method described in the Patent Document 1 involves a fine adjustment of a strategy, which is preliminarily stored in a drive, meeting the good recording quality is difficult for the medium that is not adaptive to the preliminarily stored strategy
Furthermore, in the method of the Patent Document 2, initial values for Ph and Pm are temporarily set based on values stored in a drive or a medium as described in paragraph [0067] thereof, followed by obtaining an optimum Ph/Pm ratio. Hence, meeting the good recording quality is difficult for the medium that is not adaptive to the temporarily set values, similarly to the case of the Patent Document 1.